Current delivery systems for self-expanding stents generally employ “pin and pull” systems that include an inner catheter extending through an outer sheath. Typically, the stent is placed inside the outer sheath and held in a compressed position by the outer sheath as the outer sheath and inner catheter are inserted into a patient's body vessel. To deploy the stent, the user retracts, or pulls, the outer sheath using one hand while the other hand holds the inner catheter stationary to maintain position of the stent as the outer sheath is retracted, thereby allowing the stent to gradually expand as the outer sheath uncovers the stent.
In these “pin and pull” systems, the user has difficulty maintaining the position of the inner catheter while pulling on the outer sheath because of resistance between the inner catheter and outer sheath, between the outer sheath and the stent, and between the outer sheath and the surrounding vascular walls, or other surrounding blood vessel or body vessel. To overcome this resistance, the user may need to exert a large amount of force that leads to various complications, including for example, inaccurate stent positioning, displacement of the stent, shortening or lengthening of the stent, or other damage to the structure of the stent, or damage to the target vessel.
“Pin and pull” systems may also have other disadvantages, including, for example, lack of control during stent deployment and requirement of assistance from a second person. The resistance between the outer sheath and stent varies as more of the stent is uncovered and the stent expands. Specifically, the stent's self-expanding outward circumferential bias frictionally binds it against the outer sheath. During sheath retraction, this binding force decreases as the stent is released, which correspondingly decreases the retraction force needed on the outer sheath. Thus, stent deployment may be difficult to control because the required deployment force varies as the outer sheath retracts across the surface of the stent. As a result, the user must vary the force applied to the outer sheath and the inner catheter in order to maintain a steady deployment speed and ensure accurate stent placement. In most pin and pull systems, the ratio of handle movement to stent deployment distance is 1:1, requiring the user to move faster to deploy longer stents and increasing difficulty in controlling the stent. Because the user's hands are holding the distal ends of the outer sheath and inner catheter, the user cannot easily monitor or attend to the positioning of the outer sheath in the hemostasis valve to ensure accurate stent placement, such that an assistant must be present to attend to the positioning of the outer sheath in the hemostasis valve and accurate positioning of the stent.
Other vascular stent placement delivery systems offer one-handed operation by converting hand-movements into indexed movement of the outer sheath. Such systems generally still operate, however, with a 1:1 ratio of handle movement to stent deployment distance. In other words, such systems do not provide mechanical advantage to accommodate, or reduce the amount of work required for, deployment of longer stents as compared to deployment of shorter stents.